Reblogged from alittleecon:
This
pissed me off today. A good old fashioned hatchet job on a couple of creditable
people who dared have the nerve to stick their head above the parapet and speak
out. But this is not a blog about Richard Littlejohn, a thoroughly despicable
individual who reminds me a lot of Lewis Prothero from V for
Vendetta. One of the subjects of Littlejohn’s outburst did a pretty
good job of responding here, so
there’s not much more to be said on the man himself.
What’s more interesting is what it says about the welfare debate in this
country. Until now, I’ve been quite optimistic about people’s attitudes about
the welfare state, but now I’m not so sure. It would be easy to dismiss
Littlejohn’s article as trolling or ‘linkbait’, but I think people in general
are very easily persuaded that there are millions of people out there taking the
piss while they work hard. It’s a view I often hear from friends and colleagues,
and no amount of facts and figures will change their minds. People resent the
fact that benefit claimants seemingly don’t have to do very much for their
benefits (not true, but that’s what they think).
So what’s the solution? Successive governments have tried to compete over who
can be the toughest on welfare, introducing to fitness to work tests, more hoops
to jump through and harsher sanctions. This government has taken this to
demented and particularly cruel levels at a time when jobs and in short supply,
and decent paid jobs are as rare as hens teeth. At the moment, the options for
an unemployed person is get a job (if they are very lucky), fruitlessly look for
a job, or go on a government punishment scheme. I think we need a 4th option – a
guaranteed job paid for by the government.
This removes a lot of the resentment felt by working people towards those out
of work. If anyone losing a job had the option of taking a guaranteed job, they
will be seen as doing something for something. Most people would take that
option I believe. I think the welfare system should be rebuilt around the idea
of a full employment economy as we had when the welfare state was introduced,
then we can get past this playing off one set of people against another, and
ensure the welfare system does what it’s suppose to – pick people up who’ve been
discarded by the system and keep them active and ready to get back in the
game.
